Don’t say display ads are dead: ESPN shows there’s life in an old format

Many online publishers spent last year fretting over how advertisers are paying less to display their messages beside news stories. Indeed, some say display ads should be declared dead altogether and replaced with “native advertising” that mimics a site’s editorial content.

This overstates the case. A better way to look at the situation is that it’s time for publishers to make better ads, and not to chuck the display format altogether. Check out, for instance, ESPN’s dynamic wall paper ad for an upcoming college football game that wraps around a story and lets viewers vote on their favorite team:

The ad, first reported by AdWeek, expands dramatically for those who click to vote but still does not take over the entire screen:

The football message, which also contains video and social media features, is effective compared to traditional banner ads because it’s less intrusive and is relevant to the surrounding content. One can imagine this formula working well for other genres like travel or food.

According to Marc Horine, VP of Revenue & Operations for ESPN, last year brought about a “creative renaissance” that is letting brands “break through the clutter of the traditional ad experience.” Horine also points to ESPN’s investment in technology that lets the site display elegant TV-like ads behind a story.

ESPN is hardly the only one making innovative ads, of course. Another example is OneSpot, a Texas firm that makes customized content for major retailers and inserts it in relevant places around the web. The result is a sort of hybrid between traditional display ads and the fully bespoke native advertising.

The new ad formats are promising, especially when paired with sophisticated analytics tools that let brands measure an ad’s ROI in real time. The one wildcard is whether nervous publishers will double down and invest in these promising new ad formats at a time when the larger online ad market is declining.